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n a remote province of southern France, a young woman nurtures an ambition to create a repeat-flowering crimson rose, the like of which has never been seen in Europe. Than an American balloonist falls out of the sky and into her life: and the local doctor who dreams of improving the world, is also drawn into her orbit. A love story begins to unfold against the sensuous green landscape of Gascony. But the year is 1789 and public events in Paris are closing in on the private world of the Saint-Pierre family. "The Rose Grower" throws a slanting light on the underside of history, where people find themselves torn between reason and desire, revolutionary zeal and unrequited passion. Seductive, moving and beautifully written, The Rose Grower is a gripping tale of love, roses and the French Revolution.

About The Author

Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and emigrated to Australia when she was 14. Having studied French at Melbourne University, she spent a year teaching in Montpellier before doing an MA in Paris. She has worked for many years as an editor at Lonely Planet Publications and was responsible for setting up their French series. Her first novel, THE ROSE GROWER, was published to great acclaim around the world and was a critical and commercial success in Australia. THE HAMILTON CASE was shortlisted for the SA Premier’s Fiction Award, the Victorian Premier’s Award, and was announced the Regional Winner of the 2004 Commonwealth Prize.

Michelle de Kretser was born in Sri Lanka and emigrated to Australia when she was 14. Educated in Melbourne and Paris, Michelle has worked as a university tutor, an editor and a book reviewer. She is the author of The Rose Grower, The Hamilton Case, which won the Commonwealth Prize (SE Asia and Pacific region) and the UK Encore Prize, and The Lost Dog, which was widely praised by writers such as AS Byatt, Hilary Mantel and William Boyd and won a swag of awards, including: the 2008 NSW Premier's Book of the Year Award and the Christina Stead Prize for Fiction, and the 2008 ALS Gold Medal. The Lost Dog was also shortlisted for the Vance Palmer Prize for Fiction, the Western Australian Premier's Australia-Asia Literary Award, the Commonwealth Writers' Prize (Asia-Pacific Region) and Orange Prize's Shadow Youth Panel. It was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize and the Orange Prize for Fiction.